Blog Archive
Contemplation in Action – Community – Prayer – Listening – Spiritual Direction – Nature
-
Five Gathered
Reflection on the Experience of a Group Spiritual Direction Workshop at Shalem Institute. I had the bountiful blessing of making four very close friends at the Group Spiritual Direction workshop on Zoom last June. It was not your typical friendship. Five individuals gathered together in faith, in silence, in prayer, and in profound empathy. The…
-
Grounding in Gratitude
World as Lover, World as Self: Courage for Global Justice and Planetary Awakening 30th Anniversary Edition by Joanna Macy Edited by Stephanie Kaza Excerpt from Chapter Two The root of joy is gratefulness . . . It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful. —BROTHER DAVID STEINDL-RAST We have received an…
-
Come Away
Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while. Mark 6:31 For the past six weeks our home has been filled to overflowing with the presence of our daughter, her husband and our 19-month-old granddaughter. For several of those days, another of our children, just back from two years in Australia, joined…
-
Wider Than the Sea
As I pondered and prayed about my experience in Shalem’s new Heart Longings program, a familiar hymn came to mind, and the melody would not go away. As I listened to the tune in my head, I realized it provided the answer as to what I wanted to share about my experience. The hymn with…
-
Just as He Was
On that day, as evening drew on, Jesus said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.” Leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat just as he was. Mark 4: 35-36 This story, of course, continues with the calming of the storm, but I found myself stuck on that last…
-
Evelyn Underhill: Foremother of Contemporary Spirituality
The Book of Wisdom promises that “In each generation wisdom passes into holy souls, she makes them friends of God and prophets.” In our own times we need to be on the lookout for these “friends of God and prophets” whom we will find in unlikely places. Although they appear to serve their own times,…